He assures that the military deployment in the Golan Heights will not be permanent // Qatar and Egypt condemn the incursion
▲ A minor found a rocket-propelled grenade amid the devastation of an area bombed by Israel in Qamishli, Syria.Photo Afp
Reuters, Europa Press, Afp and The Independent
La Jornada Newspaper
Wednesday, December 11, 2024, p. 21
Damascus. Israel launched attacks on Syrian army bases with the aim of preventing the weapons of those troops from falling into hostile hands, Defense Minister Israel Katz said yesterday, amid reports that it deployed military troops beyond the buffer zone. demilitarized between Syria and the Golan Heights, occupied by Tel Aviv.
Katz ordered Israeli forces to create a sterile defense zone in southern Syria, and clarified that its presence will not be permanent. He added that the measure will prevent the establishment and organization of terrorism in the Arab country and denied that his forces had advanced beyond a security zone on the border.
After a visit to the naval base in the port of Haifa, he declared: we will not allow threats to the State of Israel.
Israeli jets have struck a series of targets since Sunday following the overthrow of President Bashar al Assad, aiming to ensure that Syrian military equipment, including fighter jets, missiles and chemical weapons, did not fall into the hands of the rebels. He specified that the military fleet was destroyed.
Saudi television station Al Hadath showed images of the smoking remains of small Syrian ships in the port of Latakia.
Three local security sources reported an Israeli incursion into Syria, about 25 kilometers from Damascus, beyond the demilitarized zone. A source said they arrived in the city of Qatana, 10 kilometers east of the separation zone and a short distance from Damascus airport, but Israel denied this.
Regional security sources and officials from the defeated Syrian army said that intense Israeli airstrikes continued against military installations and air bases in Syria overnight, destroying dozens of helicopters and planes as well as Republican Guard assets in and around Damascus.
The approximate count of 200 raids left nothing of the Syrian army’s assets, they asserted.
No source reported that there were victims.
Egypt and Qatar condemned the raid. Saudi Arabia warned that the measure would ruin Syria’s chances of restoring security.
The United Nations Special Envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, condemned the Israeli attacks and invasion in Syria and described these actions as a violation of the 1974 separation agreement.
Tel Aviv detailed that its air attacks will continue for a few days, but before the United Nations Security Council it specified that it was not intervening in the Syrian conflict. He indicated that he has taken limited and temporary measures solely to protect your safety.
On the other hand, at least 10 civilians were killed in a Turkish bombing in Zarfan, east of the city of Manbij, after taking control of this town amid fighting by the Syrian Democratic Forces and armed groups supported by Ankara.
The Islamic State executed 54 Syrian soldiers who were fleeing the offensive in the desert area in the center of the country, the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.
In Damascus, banks reopened for the first time since the fall of Assad, an important step towards restoring normal life.
Shops reopened, traffic returned to the roads, construction workers returned to fix a roundabout in the city center and street sweepers cleaned the streets again.
Mohamed al Bashir, a little-known figure in most of Syria who led an administration in Idlib, a small rebel-controlled area of the northwest, was named interim prime minister of the transitional government until March 1, 2025.
Al Bashir told Al Jazeera that Syria needs stability and calm after almost 14 years of war and the fall of Al Assad, who ruled Syria for 24 years.
Meanwhile, Abu Mohamed al Jolani, leader of the Turkish group Hayat Tah-rir Sham, who overthrew the former president now taking refuge in Russia, told Sky News that the fears of other nations are unfounded, since the country will be rebuilt. The fear was due to the presence of the regime, but the country is moving towards development and stability.
